The most popular can ends in use today on beer and pop cans have a lift tab to provide leverage for pushing in a gate to open the cans.
Another popular can end features a pull ring attached to a tab. By pulling on the ring the tab is removed from the can . This has caused a litter problem since many people discard the pull ring tabs improperly.
Attaching a lift tab or a pull ring to a can end is wasteful in that it requires the use of more metal, more tooling , more work stations and costs more than can end designs where the user pushes in a tab with his finger.
Since there were over 68 billion can ends made in The United States in 1985, even small improvements in designs and methods of manufacture can have a significant impact in the industry.
Applicant has new design for can ends and a new method of making can ends without the use of lift tabs or pull rings. The new method requires fewer work stations, less metal and less tooling to manufacture than other can ends, resulting in cost savings to the manufacturer. Society today is conscious of diminishing natural resources and problems with garbage disposal. Therefore recycling of cans is increasingly important.
Most can ends today are made of aluminum as are the cans themselves. It is anticipated that plastic cans with metal lids will become a popular alternative to aluminum or steel cans in the near future.
Applicant proposes to use steel can ends on aluminum or plastic cans. This allows the cans to be separated from garbage magnetically whereas plastic and aluminum cans without steel can ends cannot be so easily reclaimed.